The exemplary embodiment relates to document processing. It finds particular application in connection with the application of machine readable indicia to hardcopy documents which facilitate processing of the documents once scanned.
Mailrooms of large organizations, such as corporations, government entities, and the like receive large quantities of mail which has to be opened, scanned, and delivered to appropriate personnel for processing. Documents can be much more difficult to manipulate in electronic format than paper (due to latency, viewing order, lack of envelope context, and the like). Consequently, during the preparation stage, the operators perform some pre-analysis of the document, typically to put the most important page in front. Specific documents may be extracted from the flow before scanning, and this sometimes involves reading the full document. For example, documents coming with a payment check may need to be extracted from the flow. Sensitive or urgent documents may also be separated out and handled by a different process.
Document preparation is one of the most labor-intensive and therefore expensive steps in most digital mailrooms. Typically, as mail is opened, preparation operators may mark each hardcopy document with a document category (e.g., a number) and circle it, so that it can later be read by another human operator (e.g., on a computer monitor) and directly indexed without that operator having to also read/understand the document. The preparation operator also inserts a slip sheet between each document, or each group of documents from the same envelope or folder, prior to scanning so that scanning can be performed efficiently in large batches. In some cases, the slip sheets include preprinted category information, but it can be time consuming for the operator to find the correct slip sheet. Later in the workflow, these slip sheets are automatically detected and the documents separated.